


Love Conquers All

by Cait_11



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Cas is in marching band, Dean is a football player, Emotional Abuse, Eventual Happy Ending, Homophobia, John Winchester's A-plus parenting, M/M, Secret Relationship, online bullying
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-20
Updated: 2019-07-20
Packaged: 2020-07-09 06:34:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 20,513
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19883215
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cait_11/pseuds/Cait_11
Summary: Dean and Cas have known each other for years, going to school and competing on the track team together. But they are worlds away from each other. Dean is a star player on the football team, and Cas keeps to himself in the marching band. On the first day of their junior year, they’re paired up for a research project in their English class. Thanks to some help from Castiel’s best friend Charlie, they soon become great friends. This close friendship soon turns into something more, a relationship they keep secret from everyone except Dean’s brother and their best friend. But what happens when everyone finds out?





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I am so happy to post my fic for this year's DCMB and work with @blueeyesandpie on the art. Enjoy!

Cas pushed open the door to the school, sighing as his saxophone case caught on the door and got stuck. He tugged it free and pulled the door shut behind himself with a sigh, making sure to give it a little kick to rid himself of his frustration.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa!” exclaimed a familiar voice. Cas looked up and let a wide grin spread across his face as he saw a familiar redhead standing in front of him. “What did that door ever do to you?”

Cas rolled his eyes and opened the door to the band room, leaving it propped open so Charlie and a few other students that had gathered behind them could get in as well. “Nothing,” Cas finally answered. “I’ve just not had a good morning so far, and then my case got caught on the door, which didn’t make anything better, and…” He trailed off as Charlie grabbed Cas by the shoulders, giving him a hard stare. “What?”

“Calm down, Cassie,” Charlie said sweetly. “It’s the first day of school. We all should go into this day with a good attitude because we will all have plenty of time to be angry and frustrated for the rest of the year.”

Cas shrugged. “You do have a point, I guess.” 

Charlie gave him a dramatic mock-bow. “Thank you. I’m aware.”

Cas rolled his eyes and knelt down on the ground near his locker, setting his backpack and case down on the floor. Charlie set her stuff down next to him, and they both got their instruments ready for the performance they had to do outside of the school when the buses arrived. Every year, the marching band had to stand at the front of the school when the students started to arrive and play stand tunes while the cheerleaders danced to the music. Cas always hated it, but he was a student leader now so he had to set a good example for the underclassmen. 

He didn’t want to, but he started to think about how fast his time in high school has already gone by. Here he was, his first day of junior year, and he didn’t have a clue what he wanted to do in life, what college he wanted to go to, what he wanted to major in. He had plenty to be frustrated and upset about for the next two years, as Charlie had said, but it was all hitting him now, and he didn’t know what to do. 

When Cas finally snapped back to reality and got up, tenor saxophone hanging from the strap around his neck, he suddenly noticed how many people had finally arrived for their performance. All around him were the rest of the marching band kids, milling around, talking to each other, and getting their instruments ready for playing. Next to him, Charlie was playing scales and long tones on her clarinet, and across from him was a flute player—Cas didn’t know her name, but he was pretty sure she was a freshman—warming up. 

“Hey, Cas,” Charlie said, tapping Cas on the shoulder. “You have to go grab the flipbooks for your section. You know, be a good section leader, set a good example.”

“To my four-person section?” Cas asked with a half-hearted laugh. “Yeah, I guess so. Thanks for reminding me.” Cas reached into his locked and pulled out the small bag he kept the flipbooks in. He quickly located the other three people in his section and handed them their books, then returned back to his locker and put the empty bag away. 

“Come on,” Charlie said, angling her head towards the door. “Let’s go outside. Mr. Ketch is probably going to call us out soon.”

Just as she said that, their band director called everyone outside to set up for the performance. Charlie linked her arm through Cas’s and led the two of them outside, basically leading everyone else to where they were supposed to go.

* * *

Later in the day, Cas was sitting in his second block English class, tapping his pencil against the desk and texting Charlie with his phone under his desk. His teacher was droning on about their course syllabus for the semester, and Cas knew he should be paying attention, but he really didn’t want to. 

Cas must have fallen asleep or zoned out for a little because when he finally started to pay attention again, the teacher was talking about a project they had to do. Thankfully, she wasn’t too far into the explanation, so Cas wasn’t terribly behind on what they were supposed to do. Apparently, she was going to put them all in pairs, and they were to decide amongst themselves a topic from the list they wanted to research. They had to run it by the teacher to make sure none of the other groups chose the same topic, and then they had five weeks to put together an in-depth powerpoint to present and a paper to hand in. 

“Any questions?” the teacher—Ms. Harvelle, Cas remembered—asked, looking out at the class expectantly. When no one raised their hand to respond, she clapped her hands together and said, “Okay! I’ll assign partners now.” She ran through a few groups; Cas knew some of the people she mentioned, but he hadn’t heard of some of the people she had mentioned. “All right, so, Novak and Winchester.”

Cas looked up suddenly and locked eyes with Dean Winchester, who was sitting a few rows ahead and had turned around to look at Cas. He wasn’t angry, per se, he just didn’t know what to think about being paired up with someone who probably wouldn’t put any effort into their project so Cas would end up doing all of the work. 

Once Ms. Harvelle had finished assigning all of the groups, she returned to her powerpoint slides and put up the agenda for the rest of class. “Before I let you guys work on your summer reading assignments for the rest of class, I would just like to say that I will give you all minimal class time to work on the research project. You will have to make an effort to meet outside of class and get the project done on time.”

Cas rolled his eyes, then reached down into his bag to pull out his summer reading book and a notebook. He started to write a few things down that pertained to the project, but he quickly grew bored. He pulled out his phone and started to text Charlie. 

_ Hey _ , he typed.  _ Where do you wanna meet for lunch? The band room? _

It took a little while for Charlie to text back.  _ Nah. I think we should brave the cafeteria for once in our lives. I met someone in my first block class that we can have lunch with. _

Cas inwardly sighed.  _ Fine. But still meet me at the band room so we can walk to the cafeteria together.  _

_ Sounds good _ , Charlie answered. 

Cas set his phone face down on his desk, then returned to working on his summer reading assignment. 

Right as Cas was about to leave the classroom so he could meet Charlie by the band room, Dean walked up to him and tapped him on the shoulder. “Hey, Castiel.”

Cas grabbed his bag and slung it over his shoulder, then looked over at Dean. “Hello, Dean.”

“So, uh, I figured we should exchange numbers so we would be able to communicate with each other about our project. You know, find a time to meet when neither of us are busy.”

Cas shrugged. “All right.” He pulled up the contacts app on his phone and handed it over to Dean, who did the same. They both put their numbers in, then traded their phones back. “Thank you.”

“Thank you as well, Castiel,” Dean replied. “I’ll see you soon. And I’ll text you so we can find a time when neither of us are busy with football or marching band practice.”

Cas nodded, but Dean was already on his way out of the classroom. 

* * *

“So,” Cas said, walking up to Charlie, the redhead leaning against the wall outside the band room, where she promised she would be, “who is this person you met during first block? Will I like them?”

Charlie shrugged. “I don’t know. You’re both on the track team during the winter and spring, so you have that in common.”

“Oh, great, so I already know this person?” Cas rolled his eyes. “Probably means I won’t like them.”

Charlie lightly shoved him in the shoulder. “Get over yourself, Cassie. He’s in the cafeteria right now waiting for us, so hurry up.”

Cas heaved a small sigh and followed Charlie as she started to make her way towards the cafeteria. Cas took a few larger steps so he was next to Charlie. “If I don’t like whoever this is, then I’m not eating lunch with them ever again, okay?” 

Charlie turned her head towards Cas and thought. “Fine. But I think you are going to like him. Or, at least you won’t mind him that much, I think.”

Soon, the two of them arrived at the cafeteria. The room wasn’t too crowded, but there were enough people in there to make Cas nervous. He hadn’t eaten in the cafeteria in a few years, opting instead to eat in the band room because he felt comfortable there. 

“Come on, Cas,” Charlie said, grabbing Cas’s arm and tugging him to the left. “He’s over here.”

Cas reluctantly let himself be dragged halfway across the cafeteria. They stopped in front of one of the smaller tables in the room, meant for about five people. Cas refused to let himself look at who was sitting there, but he did notice there were four open seats at the table. At least there was only one person there to make Cas feel uncomfortable. 

Charlie let go of Cas’s arm. “Cas,” she started to say, making an attempt to make Cas feel more comfortable with the situation, “this is Dean. Dean, this is Cas. You two have probably met before, during track.”

Cas’s head snapped up from the ground, and he made eye contact with the guy sitting across from him at the table. Dean Winchester. 

Charlie sat down at one of the free seats, and she gestured for Cas to sit down as well. Cas slumped down into one of the seats and let his bag fall on the floor next to him. 

“Hey, Cas,” Dean said brightly, a wide grin spreading across his face. “Nice to see you again.”

Cas nodded slowly. “Yes. Hello, Dean.”

“Oh, when did you two last see each other?” Charlie asked, her gaze sliding between the two guys sitting at the table. 

“We’re in the same English class,” Dean explained. “And we’re working on a five-week research project together.”

Charlie’s mouth fell open. “You guys have a project already? That’s just way too early in the semester for a long-term project like that!”

Dean shrugged. “It’s fine. It doesn’t seem too bad, so long as we budget our time properly and don’t procrastinate.”

Cas nodded. “Yeah. And it might actually be better that it’s now rather than later, when all the other teachers want to assign their projects.” He pulled his lunch out of his bag and took a sip of his water. “But what do I know? I’m not the teacher.”

The three of them stayed in comfortable silence for a little while, just simply eating their meals in peace. Every so often, one of them—normally Charlie or Dean—would crack a joke about one of their classmates or teachers, but it was mostly quiet. 

“Dean, I have a question,” Cas said after a while. He had already finished his lunch, but he was still taking sips from his water bottle.

Dean looked up from his crappy cafeteria burger, wide green eyes locking on Cas’s blue ones. “Yeah? Shoot.”

“Why are you sitting with us?” Cas twisted the cap off his water bottle, then replaced it again. “Don’t you have… Oh, I don’t know. Better, more popular friends than us that you would rather sit with? Why sit here, with us?”

Dean shrugged. “I think you overestimate my popularity. I’m friends with some of the guys from the football team, but I don’t really enjoy hanging out with them outside of practice. You two have always seemed like cool people, and I always wanted to talk to you.”

Cas didn’t say anything. He really didn’t know what to say because he hadn’t expected that kind of answer out of Dean Winchester, star of the football team and one of the best runners on the track team. He couldn’t help but wonder, just briefly, why had hadn’t spoken to Dean sooner. He just seemed so much more down to earth than most of the rest of the school. 

“Oh,” Cas ended up saying after an extremely long, extremely awkward pause. “That’s… cool. You… I don’t know. You never seemed like the kind of person I wanted to be associated with, so I never spoke to you before.”

“Oh, well, that was nice of you to tell me,” Dean said, a note of sarcasm in his tone. 

Cas panicked for a second, afraid Dean would leave the table and never speak to him or Charlie again. “No, no, no! Sorry, I didn’t mean—”

Dean grinned. “I’m just joking.”

Cas breathed a sigh of relief. “All right. That makes me feel better.”

The bell rang for the end of lunch. The three of them packed their stuff up and cleared off the table the best they could so there would be less work for the janitors. 

“I’ll see you later,” Dean said to Charlie. 

“You too, Dean,” Charlie replied. She pulled her phone out of her bag and started tapping away at it, probably texting someone Cas didn’t know. 

“I’ll text you later, Cas?” Dean asked.

Cas nodded. “Yeah. We can work out a schedule to work on our project.”

Dean scratched at his head. “Yeah, yeah, of course. And the three of us could hang out sometime. You know, if you have the time to.”

“Of course,” Charlie said. “Now, you better get to fourth block, Winchester. Cas and I have to go to band class.”

Cas rolled his eyes. “And then we have three hours of marching band practice after.”

“Well, have fun you two,” Dean said. He waved goodbye, and then he was making his way down the hall, heading towards his fourth block class. 

Charlie linked her arm through Cas’s as the two of them started to make their way towards the band room. “So,” she asked, inclining her head towards him, “what did you think of Dean? Especially since the two of you have to work on a big project together.”

“He’s fine,” Cas said nonchalantly. “I just have to get to know him a little better and rid myself of what I used to think about him, I guess.”

“Well, if that’s it, then I guess that’s good.” Charlie gave a small smile and lightly tugged on Cas’s arm. “Come on, let’s get to class.”


	2. Chapter 2

Dean paced around the front on the school, hands in his pockets and music filtering through his ears. Cas told him he would meet Dean there after practice, but Dean couldn’t seem to find him anywhere. He pulled out his phone and found his conversation with Cas. 

_ Hey, where are you? _ , he typed.  _ I can’t find you anywhere. _

About ten minutes later, he got a reply.  _ Sorry, band practice ends at 5:30, not 5. I’ll be there soon. Don’t tell anyone I was on my phone during practice.  _

Dean sighed in relief, glad that something hadn’t happened to Cas.

_ Ok. See you later. _

Dean found somewhere to sit by the front doors to the school until Cas finished at band practice. He pulled out his math folder and started to work on his homework, just something to do to occupy himself for the time-being. 

* * *

“Dean?”

Dean looked up, following the voice he just heard. At the other end of the front walkway, he saw Cas, walking with slumped over posture. “Hey, Cas!” Dean called. He stood up and started to walk towards Cas, meeting him halfway. 

“Sorry again for making you wait. I guess I forgot to tell you that band practice ends later than football practice.” Cas looked up at Dean apologetically. “So… yeah.”

Dean waved him off. “Nah, you’re good. Let’s just head to my house so we can work on the project.” He pointed toward the parking lot where his ‘67 Chevy Impala was parked. “My car’s over there.”

The two of them walked across the parking lot and stopped by Dean’s car. Dean unlocked it, threw his bag into the backseat, and slid into the driver’s seat. Cas set his bag in front of him and climbed into the passenger’s seat. 

“This is a nice car,” Cas said, seemingly just to himself. 

“Thanks!” Dean grinned and started to pull out of the parking lot. “Her name’s Baby.”

Cas nodded, but he did look a little perplexed. “You named your car? I mean, no judgement. It’s just that not a lot of people decide to give their car a name.”

“A lot more people do that than you think, Cas.”

“Okay, fine.” Cas held his hands up in surrender. “Stop badgering me!”   
  


Dean chuckled, then pulled into his driveway. “We’re here.” Dean got out of the car and grabbed his bag at the same time Cas did. 

“Hey, Dean,” called a familiar voice, Dean’s little brother Sammy. He was walking up the driveway carrying a roll of poop bags for dogs, a small wad of cash, and the mail.

“Were you walking the neighbor’s dog?” Dean asked.

“Yeah.” Sam shoved the poop bags and cash in his pocket and handed Dean the pile of mail. “Who’s that?”

“That’s Castiel. We’re working on a project for English together,” Dean explained, gesturing behind himself towards the other guy. “Cas, this is my brother Sam. He’s in seventh grade.” He looked back over at Sam. “Is Dad home yet?”

Sam shrugged. “As far as I’m aware, no.”

Dean nodded. “Okay. Good. I don’t really want to deal with him right now.”

“Bobby called,” Sam added. “He misses you at the shop. And before you say it, yes, he does realize that you’re busy right now with school and football. He wants to know if you can work on Saturdays and Sundays.”

Dean shrugged. “Sundays definitely. And some Saturdays, when there isn’t a game scheduled.”

“I’ll tell him that.” Sam turned his gaze on Cas, a thoughtful look on his face. “You look familiar. Have I met you before?”

Cas shrugged. “Probably. I’m on the track team with Dean, so if you come to the meets you might have seen me.”

Sam’s face lit up with recognition. “Right! You won a bunch of the long-distance runs! You’re really good at running, by the way.”

“Oh, thanks,” Cas said, confused a bit by the compliment. “I guess I am.”

Dean scoffed, a mildly offended look showing up on his face. “You guess? You’re one of the best runners on the team, if not  _ the  _ best runner on the team. What do you do, train every day? How do you have time for that?”

Cas’s cheeks turned red as he listened to Dean’s awe and praise. “Not every day. I’m too busy for that. But I do run most days. You should do that too ‘cause you’ll get better, and maybe you can do better than me at our meets.”

“Okay,” Dean said, “point taken. Now let’s get inside so we can work on our project. It’s already starting to get late.”

Sam looked down at his phone. “It’s only six, Dean. It’s not that late.”

“Well, I value my sleep, even though I don’t really get that much. Teachers really like to assign at least four hours of homework every night, don’t they?”

Cas nodded is assent, then followed Dean into the house. He was met with a small foyer containing a little table with a bowl for keys, a picture frame with their family when Dean and Sam were very young, and a staircase off to the left that led upstairs. 

“Cas, do you want anything to eat or drink?” Dean asked. “We normally have dinner around seven, so you can stay for that.”

“I’m good for now,” Cas answered. He felt a tug on his arm as his bag slipped down from his shoulder. “And dinner sounds great.”

Dean nodded. “Okay. Well, you can follow me upstairs to my room.” Dean made his way over to the staircase and started to make his way upstairs. Cas swung his bag back onto his shoulder and gripped the banister before following Dean up to his room. The walls were pretty bare along the staircase, and so were the walls upstairs in the hallway, no pictures, just beige paint. It looked like there were three bedrooms upstairs and a hall bathroom. The room all the way to the left seemed bigger than the others, so Cas assumed it was probably Dean’s parents’ room.

They paused in front of the room at the right end of the hall, presumably Dean’s room. Dean twisted the knob and went inside, leaving the door open so Cas could follow him in. 

Cas took a surveying glance of the room as he lightly shut the door behind himself. It looked like any typical seventeen-year-old kid’s room, with a bed, a desk, and a closet. There wasn’t much decoration on the walls, nothing that could give Cas a deeper look into Dean’s life. There was a small photo propped up on Dean’s desk; it was of a young boy, probably around four or so, and a woman who was probably the boy’s mother. 

“That’s a nice photo,” Cas blurted out without even thinking.

Dean paused, looking up from his bag with his laptop in his hands. He followed Cas’s line of sight over to the desk and the photo propped up against the mug filled with pens and pencils. “Thank you,” Dean said. “That’s me and my mother when I was four.”

“She seems like a lovely woman,” Cas commented.

“Yeah,” Dean said like he was reminiscing on older, better times, “she was.”

Cas’s head snapped over towards Dean. He looked like he was trying to hold back tears. “What?”

“She died that year, not long after the picture was taken.” Dean swiped at his eyes and sniffled. “Sammy wasn’t even a year old yet. He barely got to know her, probably wouldn’t even know what she looked like if it wasn’t for the pictures we have of her.”

Cas held a sympathetic look on his face. “Oh, Dean, I’m so sorry. That’s terrible, not having her for most of your life. I’m sorry I brought it up.”

Dean shook his head and put a smile of his face. “It’s all good. I’m fine. I can talk about it now. It just… I don’t know, it’s hard to think about sometimes.” He shook his head again. “Anyway, let’s just work on our project. I don’t want to talk about that anymore.”

Cas nodded as he pulled his laptop out of his bag, as well as some notes he started to take for the project. “Let’s get started, then.”

* * *

About an hour later, Dean and Cas had outlined what they wanted for their presentation and started their research. 

“Hey, you want dinner?” Dean asked, checking his phone for the time. “I’m getting kinda hungry.”

“Sure. I’m getting kinda hungry, as well,” Cas answered. 

“Let’s just pack this all up,” Dean said, gesturing to their books and laptops. “I’m done working on this for the night, and I bet you probably want to get home after dinner.”

Cas just nodded, then began to close his books and shut down his laptop. He put everything in his bag and slung it over his shoulder before following Dean out of his room and down the stairs. 

Downstairs in the kitchen, Dean and Cas found Sam at the stove boiling water with a box of pasta sitting on the counter. He also had a pot filled with what looked like alfredo sauce, and another filled with various vegetables. 

“That looks good,” Dean said as he passed by. He pulled a few cups from the cabinet and started filling them with water. “When will it be ready?”

Sam shrugged as he opened the box of pasta and dumped its contents into the pot. “I don’t know. Ten minutes?”

Dean sighed. He placed the glasses of water on the table, then went over to the stove to check on their dinner. He shook his head. “I’m taking over. This doesn’t look appetizing enough to feed anyone who isn’t blood-related to us.” He took a wooden spoon out of Sam’s hand and shoved him out of the way. “This is why you shouldn’t cook for us. Why don’t you go set the table? Set a spot up for Dad in case he makes his way home at a reasonable time.”

Sam rolled his eyes. “Like he’s gonna be home for dinner. If he hasn’t come home by now, we might not see him until two tomorrow morning.”

“Just set the table, please,” Dean pleaded, then focused most of his attention on fixing dinner while Sam set the table. Cas sat down at the table and sat in comfortable silence until dinner was ready.

About fifteen or so minutes later, Dean had three steaming plates of spaghetti with alfredo sauce topped with a bunch of assorted vegetables. He made a fourth plate, just in case his father came home, but he didn’t bother to place it on the table. 

“There you go,” Dean said once the three of them all had a plate. He sat down at the table and began to dig in to his food. Sam and Cas did the same, complimenting Dean on the delicious dish, Sam thanking him even more for taking over the cooking process because he wouldn’t have been able to make it taste that good. 

At the end of dinner, Cas helped Dean clean up the dishes and pots from the stove while Sam ran off to work on his homework. He rinsed them off and handed them to Dean to place in the dishwasher. When he was done, Cas also covered the extra plate and put it in the fridge. 

“You didn’t have to do that, Cas,” Dean said once they were done cleaning up and putting everything away. “But thank you.”

“You’re welcome,” Cas replied. He grabbed his glass of water off the table and chugged the few remaining sips, then stuck the glass in the dishwasher. “I should probably head home soon. Could you give me a ride?”

Dean grabbed the other two water glasses and stuck them in the sink. “Yeah, of course. Just give me your address.”

Cas rattled off his address as Dean typed it into his phone. 

“Let’s head out now, then,” Dean said, beckoning Cas to follow him to the door. Cas stooped down to pick up his bag and threw it over his shoulder, then followed Dean and closed the door behind him. He slid into the passenger seat of Dean’s car and gave Dean a few directions on how to get to his house. 

About fifteen or twenty minutes later, Dean pulled up in front of Cas’s house. He put his car in park and turned to Cas. “Hey, uh, see you at school tomorrow. We can figure out a time to work on this project later.”

Cas nodded. “Yeah, of course.” He picked up his bag and rested his hand on the door handle, about to open it. “Thank you for the ride, and for dinner. I appreciate it very much.”

Dean waved it off. “We’re friends. No need to thank me. You’re welcome to come over for dinner any time.” He paused. “Well, whenever we’re not busy at home.” His phone buzzed a few times, and Cas noticed a few text messages from Sam and his dad. “Oh, shit. My dad’s home. I have to go or else he’ll be mad.” Dean sighed and threw his phone onto the dashboard. “Bye, Cas.”

Cas stepped out of the car and waved. “Goodbye, Dean. See you tomorrow during class.” He gave Dean a smile before gently closing the car door and heading up his driveway to his front door. 

* * *

Cas slid into his seat in English about three seconds after the bell rang. He frantically began to pull his homework and other papers out of his bag so it would look like he had been there on time and ready for class to begin. He had seen what happened when kids were late to class, and he wasn’t planning on having that happen to him. Dean turned around in his seat, flashed Cas an encouraging grin, and gave him a thumbs-up.

Cas sighed. He hadn’t gotten a lot of sleep the night before, and he wouldn’t be able to go to sleep until late that night. It was Friday, and he had to go to a football game that night. He didn’t know if he was going to make it through the night without falling asleep or passing out in the middle of their field show, but he was going to try to stay awake. 

The teacher started to drone on about what they were going to do that day, something about continuing the read their books and possibly getting time to work on their projects. Cas rested his chin on his hand, intending just to rest his eyes for a few seconds. He felt his eyes get heavy, and soon he was overtaken by sleep. 

* * *

A little while later, Cas awoke with a jolt to his shoulder. He could feel someone sitting at the seat next to him, but he didn’t feel like lifting his head off the desk to see who it was. 

“Cas, wake up,” a familiar voice whispered. The person tapped on Cas’s shoulder, and Cas unwillingly lifted his head, eyes meeting Dean’s.

“What?” he snapped. “I was trying to sleep.”

Dean snorted. “No shit.” He shook his head. “I’m sorry, I just figured I should wake you before the bell rings. You missed a chapter of our book, so I’d read that over the weekend if I were you.”

Cas sighed. “Great. Okay.”

“And we’ve been working on our projects for a little while. I continued my part for the research and started to write what we can put on the slides.” Dean showed Cas his notebook, the page covered in a messy scrawl of notes and a few small doodles. 

Cas yawned and nodded. “Sounds perfect. And now you’re making me look bad because I didn’t get anything done on my own yet.”

Dean waved him off. “It’s fine. We still have about a month to complete it, so there’s no need to rush.”

“Okay.” He gave Dean a warm smile. “Well, thank you for waking me up. I would hate to be late for my next class. My teacher might actually kill me if I don’t show up in time, or if I decide to sleep through her class.”

Dean threw back his head in laughter, and Cas couldn’t help but admire the true joy in Dean’s face. “Well, it’s a good thing I didn’t wake you up. I like you too much to let some hard-ass teacher kill you for not participating in her class.”

A bit of color rose in Cas’s cheeks, and he turned away from Dean in an attempt to hide it. “Thanks.” When he felt his face cool, he looked over and noticed that Dean also had a blush on his face. Both of them ignored it.

The bell rang, and Cas quickly packed up what little he had sitting on his desk. “See you at lunch, Dean,” he said, standing up and swinging his bag over his shoulder.

“You too, Cas,” Dean replied.

* * *

Dean set his tray down on the table across from Charlie and plopped down into a chair. “Where’s Cas?” he asked. 

“What, no hello to me?” Charlie asked, crossing her arms across her chest. “I’m offended.”   
  


Dean rolled his eyes. “Hi, Charlie.”

Charlie grinned. “Thank you.” She ripped off a piece of her sandwich and stuffed it in her mouth. “And I think he’s getting a sweatshirt from his band locker. He’ll be back in a few minutes.”

Dean nodded, then pulled his math notes and homework out of his bag. He started to work on it while shoveling bites of his pasta in his mouth, but he wasn’t really paying attention to what he was doing. He was worried about the game that night because it was against their biggest rivals. But he was also worried about what Cas and Charlie would think of his playing. It was going to be their first time seeing him play since they became friends. It wasn’t that he was a bad player—he was actually one of the best players on the team—he just wanted them to think highly of him. And, if he was being honest, he really wanted to impress Cas. He was pretty sure he had started to develop a crush on Cas, and it wasn’t helping that he was hanging out with Cas so much because of their project. 

“Yo, Dean Winchester!” Charlie called, tearing Dean out of his thoughts. “You all right? You kinda blanked out there for a bit.”

Dean shook his head. “Yeah, yeah, I’m fine. I’m just… really tired.” 

Charlie raised her eyebrows. “You sure? You seem worried about something.”

Dean waved her off. “I’m fine. I swear.”

“Sure,” Charlie said reluctantly. “Whatever you say.”

Cas finally appeared, walking up to the table wearing the sweatshirt he grabbed from his locker—one of his marching band hoodies—and carrying his backpack on one shoulder. He set his bag down on the ground and slid into the seat next to Dean. “What are you working on, Dean?” he asked. 

“Math homework,” Dean replied. He sighed. “It’s not hard, I just don’t want to do it.”

“How I feel about math homework. And every other class,” Charlie replied. 

Cas snorted. “Even band?”

Charlie shrugged. “Depends on the day. But generally, no.”

The rest of lunch passed without much excitement. Dean kept stealing glances at Cas every time he started to talk about something he enjoyed, watching as Cas’s face lit up with joy. 

All too soon, the bell for the end of lunch rang, and Dean groaned as he put away his half-finished math homework and shoved the final bit of his lunch in his mouth. He zipped his backpack up and threw it over his shoulder as he stood up from the table. Charlie and Cas did the same, and the three of them walked out of the cafeteria together. 

“We’re gonna go head to the band room,” Charlie said right before she and Cas had to turn and head to band class. “We’ll see you later, right?”

Dean nodded. “Yeah. I’ll see you guys at the game tonight. Bye!”

Cas gave him a small smile. “Of course. See you later, Dean.”

Dean stared after Cas as he walked away with Charlie, a stupid grin on his face. He stayed in that mood all throughout his final class.


	3. Chapter 3

The next day, Dean and Cas sat in Cas’s room working on their project. Cas had his laptop on the bed in front of him, and he was finishing up his part for the research so he could start outlining the slides he needed to prepare. Dean was sitting next to him, leaning against the wall and flipping between looking at his outlined slides and his pages open for research. He was waiting for Cas to finish up his outlines before they could both work on making the actual presentation. 

After a little while, Cas sighed and set his laptop down on the bed in front of him. “I think I’m good, at least for right now. I really don’t want to look at this project right now.”

Dean nodded. “Do you just wanna talk for right now, then?”

Cas moved his head from side to side, working out the kinks in his neck, and sighed. “Kinda,” he admitted. “Yeah.”

“Perfect,” Dean replied. He adjusted his position, turning so he was facing Cas and stretching his legs out in front of him. Cas stayed leaning against the wall, but he unfolded his legs and draped them over Dean’s. Dean smiled a bit, glad that they were comfortable enough with each other to sit like that. 

“One second,” Cas said, grabbing his laptop. “I need to save all my work and shut this down so I don’t waste the battery.” He nodded once he was done and set his laptop down on the bed next to him. 

Dean leaned back on his hands. “What did you think of the game last night? We played pretty well, right?”

Cas nodded. “Yeah. Well, I mean, considering my complete lack of knowledge when it comes to football.” He tapped his fingers against his thigh and shrugged. “But it was a pretty good game. You both seemed to be great competitors, so the game didn’t end up being very boring.”

“Aw…” Dean frowned. “Are they all usually boring?”

Cas shook his head, but his eyes were focused on where his and Dean’s legs were touching. “Not all of them. It’s usually just the ones where one of the teams is so much better than the other, so the game just ends up with one team severely beating the other.”

Dean lightly his Cas on the shoulder. “Hey, you do know stuff about football!” A wide grin spread across his face. 

Cas’s face turned slightly red. “Well, I do have to go to every single football game, unless we have a competition scheduled on that day.”

Dean snorted. “What, is that in some sort of contract you have to sign when you join marching band?”

“No,” Cas said. “I’m just pretty sure our director would kill us if we just decided to not show up to the football games. We have to perform pre-game or halftime at every game, so it is kinda important that we show up.”

Dean frowned. “That’s right. I really wish we could see that, but we’re usually in the locker rooms when that is happening. I’m sorry.”

Cas waved him off. “It’s fine. It’s not your fault that you can’t see the show. But… maybe you would want to come to one of our competitions? We have one next Saturday, if you would like to come.” Cas paused, thinking. “Well, that is if you’re not busy.”

Dean found his phone from where he had left it and looked through his calendar. “I don’t see anything on here, so I plan on being that so long as nothing comes up. And, if something does come up, I’ll try to get out of it.”

Cas’s face lit up. “Really? You would do that?”

Dean nodded, smiling. “Yeah, I would.”

Cas matched his grin and launched forward, pulling Dean into a tight hug. “Thank you! That means a lot to me.” He paused and pulled away a bit. He looked down at the sleeve of his sweatshirt and tugged at it. “And to Charlie. She’ll be there… as well. You’d obviously want to support her too because she’s your friend.”

Dean nodded. “Yeah. But mainly just to see you.”

Cas’s head popped up in surprise, and he almost knocked his head against Dean’s. “What?”

Dean grinned and moved closer to Cas. “I said I wanted to go to the competition so I could see you.” He cupped his hands around Cas’s cheeks and leaned in. “I like you, Cas. And I don’t even know if you like guys, let alone if you like me, and...”

Cas froze, uncertain of what to say for a moment. Eventually, after what felt like forever, he finally choked out, “I like you too, Dean.” He leaned forward until his forehead was just touching Dean’s. He searched Dean’s face, looking for any reaction or a want to take their relationship further. 

“Can I kiss you?” Dean asked. 

Cas nodded, and within seconds Dean’s lips were over his own. Dean’s hands moved from Cas’s cheeks to around his neck. Cas wrapped his arms around Dean’s waist and pulled him closer until there was no space between the two of them. 

They eventually broke the kiss when they both needed to take a breath of fresh air. Cas rested his forehead against Dean’s, taking deeper breaths than he probably needed. 

“So…” Dean drawled, a small smile starting to appear on his face.

“Yeah,” Cas replied, matching the smile. “That was… um… that was pretty great. I feel like we should talk about… well, us, I guess.”

Dean nodded. “Yeah, yeah. That would probably be smart.” He slid away from Cas a bit, but he was still fairly close to him, their thighs brushing against each other. Slowly, he reached out to take Cas’s hand, searching his face for any sign of hesitation. When Cas gave him a small nod, Dean took Cas’s hand, raising it to his lips and giving it a kiss. 

Cas’s cheeks turned a little pink, and he tried his best to hide it from Dean. “So, uh…” he started, seemingly worried about the upcoming conversation. “Our relationship… Or lack thereof, I guess.” He sighed and shook his head. “What do you think?”

Dean looked down at his free hand, tapping his fingers against his thigh as he thought about what he wanted to say. “I… I want to date you, Cas,” he started. “But… I don’t know. Neither of us are out to anyone at school, are we? Only my brother knows that I’m bi.”

“Charlie knows that I’m gay,” Cas said. “But you’re right. No one else knows. As far as I’m aware, people at our school can be pretty conservative and homophobic. I don’t know that many people who are accepting.”

“You also don’t know that many people,” Dean pointed out with a laugh.

Cas looked up at Dean and glared. “That’s not what I meant, Dean.” He shook his head and laughed a little. 

“It was a joke,” Dean replied. “But I’m sure you know that. Anyway, I really do wanna go on a date with you, but I don’t know what we should do.”

Cas shrugged. “I don’t know. We could date in secret?” He sighed and looked down at their entwined hands. He scrunched up his nose as he glanced back up at Dean. “Does that sound stupid?”

Dean shook his head. “No, it doesn’t. I think that’ll work, at least for the time-being. Until we’re both to come out and tell others that we’re dating.”

Cas nodded. “Okay. But… could we tell Charlie? She’ll get suspicious because she spends so much time with us.”

“Yeah,” Dean said. “I’m fine with that. Can I tell my brother? I know he won’t tell my dad, which is good because I’m scared of what will happen if he finds out I’m anything but straight.”

Cas frowned. “Is he really that bad?”

Dean shrugged. “I’m not sure. He’s just always complaining about the LGBTQ community whenever he gets the chance.” He sighed. “I always want to say something to him about it, but I’m afraid of what he’ll do to me or Sam if I say something.”

Cas wrapped his arms around Dean and pressed a soft kiss to Dean’s cheek. “I’m sorry.”

Dean strung his arms around Cas’s torso and held him tightly. “It’s fine. It’s not your fault, Cas. He’s just my dad, and he’s an asshole. He’s probably been that way forever, but especially since my mom died.”

Cas pulled away a little, holding Dean at arm’s distance. “I forgot your mom died. You never talk about her.”

“I know,” Dean replied. “I never told you, though. How do you know?”

Cas shrugged. “Most kids at school know that. But, uh, what happened? If you don’t mind me asking.”

Dean waved him off. “You’re fine,” he said. “She died when Sammy and I were really young. Sam wasn’t even a year old and I was about four. Our old house caught on fire, and she got caught in Sam’s nursery. Dad pulled Sam out of the nursery and I took him outside. Dad tried to save my mom, but he wasn’t able to.” Dean took in a deep breath and tried to calm his nerves. “I’ve never told anyone that before.”

Cas squeezed Dean’s hand for reassurance. “You didn’t have to tell me, Dean. I wasn’t going to force you.”

“No, no, no!” Dean said frantically. “It’s fine. I wanted to tell you.”

“Good,” Cas said. He leaned forward and pecked Dean on the lips. 

“What was that for?” Dean asked, grinning. 

Cas shrugged. “Just because, I guess.” He was about to lean forward and kiss Dean again, but an incoming phone call interrupted him. “One second,” he told Dean. He pulled his phone out and listened to what the person on the other end had to say. He sighed and put his phone away after the call ended. 

“Who was that?” Dean asked. 

“My manager,” Cas replied. “He wants me to come in for a shift in about twenty minutes. Talk about short notice.”

Dean frowned. “Aw man! I wanted to spend more time with you! Maybe tomorrow?”

Cas nodded. “Yeah. And we can make some actual progress on our project.”

“Hey!” Dean protested. “We’ve made progress! I think we’re doing better than half the groups in our class.”

Cas rolled his eyes. “Whatever. You should probably go home soon ‘cause I need to leave for work. I’ll see you tomorrow?”

Dean nodded. “Yeah. And invite Charlie too. I wanna tell her about us.”

“Yeah,” Cas said. “Of course. You wanna meet here, or at your house?”

Dean shrugged. “I don’t really care either way. Maybe my house? My dad won’t be home, and I don’t want to leave Sam home alone for that long. I worry about him.”

“Yeah, no problem,” Cas responded. “I’ll tell Charlie that.”

Dean started packing his things up, shoving papers back into folders and throwing a few pencils back in his bag. He zipped his bag up and stood up from the bed, starting to make his way to the door. Cas stood up and followed him. He grabbed Dean’s hand and spun him around, wrapping an arm around his waist and pulling him close. 

“Were you gonna leave without saying goodbye?” Cas teased, a smile gracing his lips. 

“No,” Dean laughed, leaning down and giving Cas a small kiss on the lips. “Bye, Cas.”

“Goodbye, Dean,” Cas said. “See you tomorrow.”

* * *

Cas pulled up to the school at eight-thirty in the morning a week later. He sighed and hit his head against his steering wheel. He really didn’t want to practice all morning and go to the competition in the afternoon, but there was nothing he could do about it. The only good part was that Dean was going to be there to watch the competition. 

He looked up when a car pulled up next to him and the person driving it honked their horn. He looked over and saw Charlie in her car waving at him. She grabbed her stuff and made her way over to Cas’s car, sliding into the passenger seat. 

“‘Sup, Cassie,” she said, throwing her clarinet and drillbook on the floor. “How are you? You don’t look good.”

Cas rolled his eyes. “Thanks, Charlie,” he said sarcastically. “I’m fine. Just really tired. I don’t wanna be here right now.”

“Mm-hm,” Charlie said. “Up late with your boyfriend?”

Cas felt his cheeks turn red. “Yeah.” When he saw Charlie start to grin, his eyes grew wide. “No, no, no! Nothing like that! We had a movie marathon until, I don’t know, one in the morning? I woke up about half an hour ago. I’m really tired and don’t want to be here.”

“Well,” Charlie started, “you should be excited. Dean gets to see you doing something you love!”

“We’re both on the track team, Charlie,” Cas said, ending it with a yawn. “I like to run.”

“Well, you’re dating now, so it’s different. And it’s something that you don’t both do.”

Cas sighed. “Do you think people will wonder why he’s there? Would they suspect anything?”

“I don’t know,” Charlie said, shrugging. “They know we all hang out, so they’ll probably think he wanted to come to support both of us, as a good friend.”

Cas nodded. “Yeah, yeah,” he said, trying to convince himself that everything would be fine. “Of course. It’s fine. No one will think anything of it.”

Charlie slapped Cas on the arm and grinned. “See? It’ll be fine!” She grabbed her bag and clarinet off the ground and opened her door. “Now, let’s go. We have to be shining examples for the youngins.”

Cas rolled his eyes. “Yeah, let’s go.” He turned his car off and got out. He opened the back of his car and grabbed what he needed before following Charlie into the school. Once inside, they both put their instruments together and took a seat in the band room, waiting until more people showed up before making their way out to the parking lot for practice. 

* * *

Later that evening, Cas and Charlie made their way back to the stadium after they performed and changed out of their uniforms. In his opinion, he thought the band did pretty well, and he hoped they would place well in comparison to the other bands. 

“You wanna go find Dean?” Charlie asked. 

Cas nodded. “Yeah.” He patted his pockets, checking to make sure he had his phone and his wallet. “I wanna get some food first, though. I’m starving!”

The two of them made their way over to the concessions stand. They waited in line for a little while, right behind most of the other members of their band. After about twenty minutes, Cas walked away with a bottle of water and a hot dog, and Charlie got a soda and a bowl of nachos. 

“Cas! Charlie!” a familiar voice called. Cas whipped his head around and found Dean standing by the condiments table, putting some ketchup and mustard on his hot dog. He waved the two of them over. 

“Hi, Dean,” Cas said. He almost went in for a hug and a kiss to Dean’s cheek, but he didn't. It was hard to restrain himself; it seemed like Dean was also trying hard not to kiss him. 

“You guys did great!” Dean said. “At least, as far as I could tell. I don’t really know that much about marching bands and what they’re supposed to look like. But, I did like the performance!”

“Thanks, man!” Charlie said. “I’m glad you came to see us. I don’t think anyone else on the football team would do that.”

“Well,” Dean started, “not everyone on the football team is friends with the best people in the world who also happen to be in the marching band.”

Cas smiled and looked down at the ground. He had been having trouble talking to Dean in public because he knew that it looked like they were more than just friends when they interacted. He knew Dean felt the same. He had to get away now, before he did something stupid and revealed their relationship to everyone there. 

“Uh, I think we have to go sit in the stands soon,” Cas said. “Our band director might get mad if we aren’t there to watch some of the other bands.”

Dean frowned. “Oh, okay.” He looked down at his hands and shuffled his feet. “I’ll see you guys later?” He turned his attention on Cas, and Cas could tell he really meant that he only wanted to see Cas.

Cas nodded. “Yeah. I’ll see you later.”

Charlie started to walk towards the stands, and Cas followed shortly behind. His head was buried in his phone, but he wasn’t doing anything on it, just staring at a blank screen, trying to ignore the heat that was beginning to spread across his face. 

* * *

Later that night, almost midnight, Dean and Cas were sitting in Cas’s basement watching a movie. Well, not really watching. The movie was on in the background, and the two of them were cuddling on the couch and talking. 

“I’m glad you came today,” Cas said suddenly. They had been in the middle of a conversation about what they wanted to do after high school, but Cas hadn’t felt like discussing that anymore. 

“I’m glad that I came,” Dean replied. He looked down at Cas and grinned. “It was nice to see my boyfriend doing what he loves.”

Cas scoffed. “I’m only in marching band still because I’m afraid of what will happen if I quit.” He paused, thinking. “It’ll also be something nice to put on my college applications.”

Dean threw his head back and laughed. “I think you like it but you just don’t know it.”

Cas shrugged. “That’s probably true.” He leaned up and pressed a kiss to Dean’s lips. He pulled away and smiled. 

Dean pressed his forehead against Cas’s and grinned. “What was that for?” 

Cas grabbed Dean’s hands and held them against his chest. “Nothing. Just felt like it.”

Dean shook his head. He settled back into the couch and draped an arm across Cas’s shoulders, resting his head on top of Cas’s. The two of them stayed like that the whole night.


	4. Chapter 4

Cas shedded his uniform jacket, hat, and gloves as soon as he made it to the stands after the pre-game performance. He set them down on the seat in front of him, right between two people who were sitting there. He tapped them both on the shoulder to let them know that it was there so they didn’t accidentally knock it over. 

“That was a pretty good performance, wasn’t it?” the kid sitting next to him asked. It was Alfie, another member of his section.

“Oh, sure. I guess,” Cas said. He wasn’t really in a mood to talk at the moment. He really just wanted to hang out with Dean, but Dean had to play football and Cas had to play stand tunes to hype up the football team and the fans. 

Cas sighed and settled into his seat, resting his saxophone comfortably on his lap. He passed out the flip folders that held the music for the stand tunes to the other members of his section. He attached his flip folder to his instrument and pulled out his phone. 

“Hey, are you supposed to be on your phone?” Charlie asked. 

Cas looked up at Charlie, who was standing on the stairs next to Cas’s seat. “Are you supposed to be up here talking to me? Go back and sit with your section.”

Charlie frowned and sat down on the steps. “You need to switch to clarinet so we can sit next to each other during football games.”

“Or maybe you need to switch to tenor sax,” Cas countered. “We could use more of those, anyway.”

Charlie shrugged. She stood up and crossed her arms, gazing out at the stands. “I should probably get back to my seat before the staff members get mad at me.” She waved at Cas as she began to descend the stairs. “Bye, Cas.”

Cas waved back at her. “Bye, Charlie.”

Cas sat back in his seat and watched the game, playing the fight song when the team scored and playing stand tunes whenever the band director told them to. When he was able to, he would follow Dean around on the field with his eyes, admiring his boyfriend’s talent. He watched the other band play at halftime, but he was barely paying attention to what was going on. He really just wanted to get some food and hang out for the rest of halftime and all of third quarter. 

He ran to the concession stand as soon as he was able to, Charlie’s footsteps following shortly behind him. They both waited in line with impatience, and they were eventually at the front of the line, ready to order. 

“Hey, can I have a bottle of water and a soft pretzel?” Cas asked, glancing over at Charlie, who was standing off to the side sipping her lemonade and munching on a hot dog.

The woman handed him his food and Cas handed over a few crumpled up dollar bills he had found on the floor of his car that morning. He thanked her, then scooped up his food and made his way over to where Charlie was standing. 

“Have you been paying attention to the game, Cas? Or have you just been staring at your boyfriend?” Charlie asked, a teasing grin on her face. 

Cas’s eyes grew wide and he started to panic. Had someone heard that?

“Relax, Cas,” Charlie said, running a soothing hand down Cas’s arm. “No one heard. You guys are fine.”

Cas took a deep breath. “Okay. If you think so.” He tipped his head back and gulped down half of his water bottle. He gestured over his shoulder to a free area to sit next to the stands. “Let’s go sit over there.” He didn’t wait for Charlie to respond, just started walking over to the little space before someone else could snag it up. 

“Are you and Dean hanging out after the game?” Charlie asked, plopping down on the ground next to Cas. 

Cas shrugged. “I don’t know. We haven’t really planned anything yet.” He paused to rip off a piece of his pretzel and shove it in his mouth. Still chewing, he added, “I might just work on my homework. Or watch something on TV. We’ll find out.”

Charlie laughed. “Just eat your pretzel.”

* * *

Cas climbed the stairs and slid into his seat. He picked up his saxophone and reattached it to his neck strap. The drum major called out a stand tune for the group to play once everyone had their instruments ready. The cheerleaders danced along to the music while the football team began the fourth quarter. 

Not too long into the final quarter, Cas saw Dean take the field. He got into position, the rest of his teammates getting ready to start a play. 

The band director called out another stand tune for the band to play, and Cas was sad he had to pull his gaze away from Dean. Dutifully, he flipped to the chosen stand tune and began to play when the drum major started conducting. 

Suddenly, a hush fell over the stadium, and the band director was waving his hands around, trying to get everyone to quit playing their instruments. He told everyone to sit down. Slowly, everyone in front of Cas began to sit down, and Cas was finally able to see what was going on. 

“Shit,” Cas said, a little louder than necessary. The kid sitting next to him tugged him down in his seat, quietly telling him that the band director would get mad if he didn’t sit down. 

Down on the field, the football team was kneeling and the coaches were crowded around a player on the field. Even from that far away, Cas could tell it was Dean. His helmet was slightly askew, and Cas didn’t know how it could have fallen off; he thought that they normally made sure they were secure before taking the field. His right leg was bent at an odd angle, too crooked for it to be uninjured. 

Cas didn’t know what to do. Usually, if players got injured on the field, they would get up within a few minutes and they would be fine. But Dean didn’t look fine. Cas didn’t know how long it had been, but he knew Dean had to have been lying there for more than a few short minutes. 

A few EMTs entered the stadium carrying a stretcher. They brought it onto the field and set it down next to Dean. 

Cas didn’t remember getting up, but soon he was running out of the stands and towards the middle of the football field where Dean had fallen. He heard Charlie calling his name, trying to get him to come back, and his band director said something to him. But Cas didn’t stop. He barely heard them calling after him. He just kept running until he collapsed onto the field next to Dean. 

“Dean!” he yelled as he felt someone dragging him away from the scene. That was the last thing he remembered before he fell out of the person’s grasp and knocked himself out. 

* * *

Cas woke up in Charlie’s living room. There was a pile of throw pillows behind his head and a thick comforter was haphazardly thrown over his body. He sat up slowly, and he felt pain shoot through his skull.

“Oh, you’re awake,” Charlie said, walking into the room carrying a bowl of yogurt and a cup of coffee. She walked towards him and sat down on the arm of the couch that Cas was lying on. “How’d you sleep?”

Cas shrugged. “Fine, I guess. My head kind of hurts.”

Charlie frowned. “Yeah. You hit your head on the ground. You should probably get that checked out ‘cause you might have a concussion.” She shrugged. “The turf isn’t that hard though, so you might actually be fine.”

Cas nodded. He pulled his knees to his chest and rested his forehead against the tops of his knees. “How is Dean?” he asked, not bothering to look up at Charlie. 

“I don’t know,” Charlie said. “I’ve been here, making sure you’re okay.” She settled onto the couch next to Cas and wrapped an arm around his shoulders. “I’m sure he’s fine. Do you wanna see if we can visit him later?”

Cas nodded. He set his feet on the floor and stood up. “Can I get something to eat before we leave? I’m starving.” He made his way over to the kitchen and sat down at the counter. He helped himself to a cup of coffee, pouring it into one of the many mugs lining the counter. Charlie grabbed him a bowl and prepared him a nice breakfast with yogurt, granola, and assorted fruits, the same thing she had been eating earlier. 

About ten minutes later, Cas had finished his breakfast. He poured himself another cup of coffee, this time in a travel mug. 

“You that eager to leave?” Charlie asked with a chuckle.

Cas looked up in surprise. “Why wouldn’t I be? Dean could be seriously injured, and we’re just sitting here on our asses doing nothing.”

“We can’t treat his injuries, so what are we supposed to do?”

Cas folded his arms over his chest and frowned. “Be there for him. We’re his friends.”

“And you’re his boyfriend,” Charlie added. “Okay, let’s head out. I’m driving.”

* * *

Cas and Charlie had to wait for a bit, but they were eventually allowed to go back and visit Dean. Cas led the way, glancing at every room number before stopping in front of the one the nurse had told them Dean was in. He slowly opened the door and slipped into the room, Charlie following shortly behind him. 

“Dean?” Cas asked quietly, just loud enough for Dean to hear if he was awake but not loud enough to wake him up if he was asleep. “I’m me, Cas. Charlie’s here as well.”

Dean rolled over a bit and stared at the two people crowding the doorway. “Hey, Cas, Charlie,” he said slowly, an overwhelming sense of exhaustion in his tone. He reached towards Cas, waiting until Cas stepped closer so he could wrap a hand around his wrist and tug him towards the bed. “What are you guys doing here?”

Charlie scoffed. “What do you think, dumbass? We’re here to see you!”

Dean nodded. He tugged on Cas’s wrist and leaned up, trying to meet Cas halfway. Cas bent over and planted a quick kiss on his boyfriend’s lips.

Cas finally noticed the amount of bandages Dean had. He must have gotten cut in several places because there were multiple bandages across his legs and arms. He left wrist was wrapped up, and his right leg was in a cast.

Cas sat down on the chair next to Dean’s bed, still holding Dean’s hand. “How did this happen? I hadn’t been watching the game because we were playing a stand tune.”

Dean sighed. “I don’t know. It happened kind of fast. A few guys trampled me when I was trying to do my part for the play and I guess I landed kinda funny.” He gestured to his wrist and leg. “I sprained my wrist and broke my leg.”

Cas frowned. “I’m sorry, Dean. How do you feel? Does it hurt real bad or is it more of a dull pain?”

Dean shrugged. “I don’t know. I’m on so many drugs right now that I can’t feel any pain. It’s wonderful. You should try it sometime.” Dean laughed at Cas’s and Charlie’s worried faces. “I’m kidding! I really wouldn’t suggest it. It’s not fun.”

Cas smiled softly. He was happy to see that Dean was joking around, but he was still concerned about his injuries and how much pain he would be in once the medication wore off. “I’m glad to see that you’re fine for now,” Cas said, bringing Dean’s hands to his lips and giving it a quick kiss. “Do you know when you’ll be able to leave?”

Dean shrugged. “I don’t know. I haven’t even been here that long and I already want to leave.” He sighed. “I’m really tired. I kinda want to sleep. You guys should go. You probably have better things to do than sit here and watch me sleep.”

“Are you sure?” Charlie asked, stepping forward and settling a hand on Dean’s shoulder. “We don’t have much to do that would be better than being here with you.”

Dean nodded. “Yeah, I’m sure. It’ll be really boring here. I’ll be sleeping, and you guys will be trying your best not to wake me up.”

Charlie sighed. “Okay, we’ll leave, if you really want.”

“Has anyone else visited you yet?” Cas asked. 

“Just Sammy,” Dean replied. He waved Cas and Charlie off. “Go! I wanna sleep!”

Charlie rolled her eyes. “Okay! We’re going!” She tapped Cas on the shoulder. 

“Bye, Dean,” Cas said, leaning over and giving Dean a quick peck on the forehead.

“Bye, Cas,” he replied sleepily, already falling asleep. His eyes fluttered shut, and as Charlie and Cas left the room, he started snoring softly. 

* * *

“Oh, shit,” Cas muttered. He set his phone down on the bed next to him and closed his eyes. This wasn’t happening. He hadn’t outed Dean and himself. No, absolutely not. It didn’t happen. It couldn’t have. 

But he was looking at the proof. He hadn’t checked his phone since the football game the night before, so he hadn’t seen all the rumors spreading on Instagram that Dean and Cas were dating. Well, not rumors. It was true. They had found out, and Cas didn’t know what to tell Dean. Did he even know already? Had his brother told him?

Cas needed to talk to someone. Scream. Let his frustrations out. 

He dialed Charlie’s number and held the phone up to his ear. After a few rings, she picked up. 

  
  


“Hey, Cas,” she said, no tone of worry in her voice. She probably didn’t see. “What’s up?”

Cas breathed in deep and held it for a few seconds, trying to calm himself down. “You should check Instagram,” he said, voice shaking. “I… I don’t think I can talk about this.” He hung up the phone and threw it across the room. 

“Fuck,” he said, quietly at first. He repeated, his words getting louder and louder as everything that happened became clearer to him. Everyone knew, and Cas didn’t know how his classmates would react. Hell, he didn’t even know how his own boyfriend would react!

Across the room, his phone started ringing, and Cas didn’t feel up to getting out of bed to grab it. He hoped it was just Charlie and not Dean freaking out about the whole situation. 

Cas choked on his tears. Beneath his cheek, his pillow started to become wet. He pulled his covers over himself, tightly wrapping them and turning on his side. Within minutes, he fell fast asleep, still thinking about everything that had happened. 

* * *

Dean woke up in his hospital room with a head of red hair hanging over him. “Ugh,” he said, pushing Charlie’s hair out of his face. “Personal space, please?”

Charlie stepped back and flopped into the bedside chair. “Sorry, Dean. I just wanted you to wake up.”

Dean nodded. He sat up a bit and looked around, trying to find a particular face. “Where’s Cas? He didn’t come with you?”

Charlie looked down at her feet. “Uh…” she started, but didn’t say anything else.

Dean sat up even further, wincing as he accidentally hit his injured leg on the bed rail. “What happened? Is he okay? I haven’t really been using my phone so I’m not caught up on what’s going on out there.”

Charlie sighed. “Physically, he’s fine.” She looked back down at the floor. “Something… happened. It was on Instagram. He called me yesterday all worried and told me to check it out myself because he didn’t have it in him to explain it.”

“Explain what?” Dean asked, starting to get truly worried. 

“Uh…” Charlie pulled up something on her phone. She frowned, seemingly resistant to share what was happening. “A bunch of kids posted this on their Instagram stories, so I screenshotted them before they disappeared. It’s.... they know. About you and Cas. That you’re dating.”

Dean didn’t know what to say. He stayed quiet, waiting to see if Charlie had anything else to say. He couldn’t help but wonder what Cas was doing, how he was dealing with everything. He wouldn’t have gone back to school to face the people who had done this. It was Sunday, so there was still another day. 

“Uh, when you fell, Cas panicked,” Charlie continued, snapping Dean out of his thoughts. “He ran out of the stands and onto the field. I guess people figured out what was going on between the two of you because of that.” She leaned forward and settled a hand on Dean’s shoulder. “I’m sorry, Dean. I don’t know what to do. I figured I should tell you before someone else did.”

Dean nodded. He cleared his throat, trying to keep his tears from running down his cheeks. “Thank you,” he said quietly.

Charlie nodded. “Do you want me to stay, or do you want me to go someplace else? Whatever you want.”

“Can you leave?” Dean mumbled as tears began falling from his eyes. 

Charlie nodded. “Yeah, I can. I’ll see you later, okay? You’ll be okay, I’ll promise you that.”

Dean nodded. “Yeah, okay,” he said quietly. “Bye.”

Charlie turned away and walked out of the room. Dean turned on his side and settled into the thin sheets, letting his tears fall freely now that no one was watching him. 


	5. Chapter 5

For the most part, Cas’s family left him alone, even when he didn’t go to school Monday. Or Tuesday. Or the rest of the week. They only came by his room to drop off plates with food and glasses of water and other stuff they knew he liked. Cas could barely muster up enough energy to get up and get the food whenever he heard someone leaving it by his door. 

He kept getting text messages from numbers he didn’t know and DMs on Instagram from people following him that went to his school but he didn’t know personally. Some were kind words wishing him and Dean well, reassuring him that everything would be okay. But some were just plain rude, and most of those hurt Cas immensely, so bad that he deleted the app from his phone so he wouldn’t get the notifications. 

He had several missed calls from Charlie and Dean, asking him how he was doing. Dean was upset about what happened, but he was more upset about not seeing him for a week. Dean sent him some text messages as well, asking him to visit him or at least call him. He reassured Cas that he wasn’t upset or angry, just worried about how Cas was dealing with the situation. 

Someone knocked on his door, and Cas pushed himself into a seated position on his bed. He didn’t get out of bed, just waited for whoever was at the door to say something. 

“Cas?” said a familiar voice. Charlie. “It’s me, Charlie. I haven’t seen you in a while, and I was wondering how you were doing. Can I come in?”

Cas threw himself back on his bed and buried his face in his pillow. He started the cry. He really didn’t want to talk to anyone at the moment. If he did, he probably would never stop crying. 

His door opened, and Cas turned to look as Charlie waltzed into the room and sat down on the edge of Cas’s bed. 

“Hey, Cas,” Charlie said softly, reaching a hand out to stroke Cas’s arm in a reassuring manner. “I haven’t seen you in a while. Dean and I are worried about you.” She tugged on Cas’s arm. “Can you sit up?”

Cas slowly sat up and rested his head on Charlie’s shoulder, not even bothering to hide the tears falling from his eyes. Charlie brought a hand to his shoulder and wrapped him in a hug. She pulled away after a few short moments. 

“Cas, please, get out of this room. It’s not going to fix everything, but a change of scenery might help your mental state.”

Cas shrugged and shook his head. “I just… I don’t know. I don’t want to deal with any of this. So many people have tried to text me or DM me, and a lot of it has been rude comments about me and Dean.” He bit his lip and closed his hands into fists, squeezing them tight enough that his fingernails were digging into his palms. “I kinda want to be alone right now…”

Charlie nodded. “Of course. I’ll leave. Just promise me that you’ll try to get out of this room, okay?”

Cas nodded, but he could tell Charlie knew he was lying. 

“Bye, Cas,” Charlie said as she turned away from him and made her way out the door. Cas heard her footsteps going down the stairs and out the front door to his house. 

Cas fell back into his bed and sighed, rubbing his hands into his eyes to get rid of the tears.

* * *

Dean grabbed his crutches from where they were sitting at his feet and got out of the car, struggling to balance with the crutches on the sloped driveway. Sam ran around the side of the car and helped him safely get to his feet.

“Thank you, Bobby,” Dean said, tapping on the passenger side window to alert him that he was speaking to him. Their uncle—well, not really uncle, but a family friend—had driven Dean home from the hospital, and Sam had come along to help Dean get in and out of the car and house. Their dad didn’t seem to want to come pick Dean up. In Dean’s opinion, the man was probably too drunk to even drive. Or he just didn’t care enough about his own son to pick him up from the hospital. Either way, he was finally home, and he could sleep in his own bed instead of the cramped one in his room at the hospital. 

“Do you need help getting in and up the stairs?” Sam asked once Bobby had driven away.

Dean shook his head but quickly stopped and nodded. “Actually, I probably do need help. It wouldn’t hurt, at least.”

Sam nodded. He stood behind Dean and followed him as he made his way into the house. Dean started to go up the stairs, but their father stopped him.

“Dean, I need to speak to you,” John said, his words a bit slurred. He smelled heavily of a mixture of different types of alcohol: whiskey, beer, and several others that Dean couldn’t place. “Sam, go upstairs.”

Sam frowned and looked as though he wanted to complain, but Dean gave him a hard stare. Sam turned and headed up the stairs, not looking back in fear that John would yell at him. Dean made his way over to the couch and sat down, setting his crutches against the wall so he could easily grab them. He folded his hands together and tensed; a million thoughts ran through his mind as he tried to figure out what his dad wanted to talk about, what he had done wrong. 

“What’s up, dad?” Dean asked, trying to make his voice sound as calm as possible. He didn’t want his dad to know how nervous he was about whatever they were about to discuss. 

John grunted and settled back into his chair. He looked upset and angry all at once. “What’s this I hear about you dating someone? A guy? Why would you do that? Are you trying to bring shame to our family? Huh? Is that what you’re trying to do?” His voice started out kind of quiet, but it became louder and louder with each word John said. 

Dean shivered. Something about his dad’s loud voice always made him nervous. He wanted to run away, but it was hard to do with his broken knee. He looked down at his feet. “No, sir,” he mumbled. He didn’t want to make his dad any more angry, but he also didn’t want his dad to say anything bad about him or Cas. 

“Then what the hell are you trying to pull?!”

Dean took a deep breath. “Nothing. I like him, and we’re dating. Why does it matter that he’s a guy?”

His dad’s face turned red. He wasn’t used to Dean talking back to him. “It’s wrong! It’s unnatural! Why can’t you just be a normal kid?” His dad was practically screaming at this point, and Dean was convinced that the entire street could hear him. 

Dean picked at a loose thread on the couch. “I am a normal kid,” he mumbled. He pulled a few threads from the couch and threw them on the ground. “Why can’t you be a normal and supportive dad? Why do you have to drink all the time?”

John stood up from the couch and stormed over to Dean, standing right in front of him, towering over him because Dean was sitting. “What did you say to me?!” He shook his head. “Don’t even answer that. Just go to your room. You are not allowed out of this house except to go to school.”

Dean frowned, but he grabbed his crutches and headed up to his room, struggling a bit with the narrow stairs. He went into his room and threw his crutches on the floor. He fell into his bed and started to cry, extremely frustrated with everything that had happened. Within a few minutes, he fell fast asleep.

* * *

Dean woke up the next morning to someone standing over him, watching him sleep. He blinked up at the person and saw Sam sitting on the end of his bed, worriedly playing with the end of his shirt and chewing on his lip. 

“What do you want?” Dean asked, stretching his arms above his head and yawning. 

“I was worried about you,” Sam said. “I heard what dad was saying to you.”

Dean snorted. “I’m not surprised. I’m pretty sure half the street heard what dad was saying to me.” He shook his head. “I just want to talk to Cas, but he won’t answer my calls or texts. Charlie went to see him yesterday, but she told me that he asked her to leave pretty early on. I can’t even go over to his house to talk to him because dad told me I can’t leave the house.”

Sam frowned. “I don’t know how to help you, Dean. You both are going through a lot right now, and I think it’s hitting Cas pretty hard. You as well, but I know you tend not to let these kinds of things bother you.”

“I’m just worried about him,” Dean said. “Neither of us wanted our relationship revealed until we were ready, but he was really adamant about it. I just want to talk to him, be in the same room as him.”

Sam frowned and shrugged. “I… I don’t know if there’s anything I can do. I think the best thing you can do is occupy your time with something completely different. Maybe you could watch some movies or read a book?”

Dean sighed. “Yeah, I guess I could do something like that. Can you bring me something for breakfast? I’m too worn out right now to go downstairs.”

Sam gave him a severe look. “Is that the only reason?”

Dean hesitated a moment before shaking his head. “I don’t want to face dad right now. I just… I can’t do that right now.”

“All right, Dean.” Sam stood up from Dean’s bed and gave him a small nod before heading out the door and downstairs. Roughly fifteen minutes later, he came back upstairs with a mug full of coffee and some eggs with pancakes. He set them down on Dean’s nightstand and quietly left the room again, giving Dean some time to himself. 

Dean sighed and sat up, leaning over to grab the plate and utensils Sam had left him. He set the plate on his lap and dug in, trying to erase any thoughts from his brain except for how good his breakfast was. He finished the food rather quickly, and then he grabbed his cup of coffee and polished that off as well. 

He grabbed his phone and pulled up his conversations with Cas. He scrolled through the texts he had sent over the past week, up until the last message that Cas had replied to. Most of them hadn’t even been read, like he wasn’t even bothering to look at his phone most days. 

A knock sounded on his door, and Dean almost dropped his phone. “Yeah?” he asked.

The door opened and Sam poked his head around it. “Hey, Dean. I was just going to grab your plates and take them downstairs. Are you done with them?”

Dean nodded. Sam went over to his nightstand and collecting the empty plate and mug and the used utensils. He stacked them together so he could hold them easily and headed over to the door. Before he left, he turned back to face Dean. 

“Please try to get out of this room, okay?” he pleaded. “I’ll let you know when dad’s gone, if that’s any help.”

“Yeah,” Dean replied, pulled his legs up so he was sitting with them crossed. “That would help. Uh, thanks for bringing me breakfast and cleaning up the plates. I really appreciate it.”

Sam nodded. “Yeah, of course!” He gestured over his shoulder. “I’m gonna go. I hope you feel better, and I hope that you’ll be able to get in touch with Cas at some point.” With that, he turned and left the room. 

Dean took in a deep breath and looked back down at his phone, unanswered messages to Cas blinking up at him in shame. He started to write a new message:  _ Hey, Cas. It’s okay if you don’t want to talk right now. I get it. I just want to say that I’m not mad about what happened, I’m just worried about you. If you could text me back or call me that would be really great, but you don’t have to. I hope I can see you soon, and I would go over to visit, but my dad won’t let me out of the house right now. _

Dean pressed send and threw his phone on the ground next to him. He didn’t know why, but every time he sent a new text to Cas, it made him nervous. It was like he thought that Cas would hate him more and more with every new text he sent. Which was ridiculous. Right?

He was worrying about nothing. He leaned over the side of the bed and grabbed his phone, flipping it around to see that Cas hadn’t answered his text yet. He might not even be awake yet, but Dean was still worried about Cas not answering any of his messages. 

Dean decided that he wouldn’t spend the day on his phone, stressing out about Cas not answering his texts. He put his phone on do not disturb so it wouldn’t alert him to any notifications and set it facedown on his nightstand. He pulled his laptop out and found a movie to watch, then settled into his bed, wrapping a blanket around his shoulders.

* * *

Dean barely left his room that day. He grabbed lunch around noon, right after his dad had left for the day. Later, he went down for dinner, but he quickly made his escape when he heard the garage open, letting him know that John would be in shortly. 

Back in his room, Dean threw himself on his bed and resumed the movie he had been watching before he went down for dinner. He ignored his phone, even though he longed to check and see if Cas had left him any messages. He didn’t know why, but he really didn’t want to look at it, even if Cas had left some texts or calls. He just didn’t have it in him, he guessed.

About half an hour later, someone knocked on his door and let themself in. Sam came into the room and sat on the edge of Dean’s bed. 

Dean paused his movie and pulled the earbuds out of his ears. “Yeah?” he asked.

“I just wanted to check on you before I go to bed,” Sam said. “So, how are you doing?”

Dean shrugged. “Fine, I guess.”

“Okay.” Sam nodded. “Dad’s passed out on the couch. I think he had a lot to drink today, or just a stressful day at work or something.”

Dean snorted. “I’m surprised he still has a job with the amount of alcohol he drinks. They haven’t fired him yet?”

“Surprisingly,” Sam said drily. He pushed himself off the bed and headed to the door. “Have a good night, Dean.”

“You too,” Dean said, but Sam had already left, his footsteps heading down the hall towards his room. 

Dean put his earbuds back in and resumed watching his movie, but he could barely focus on what was going on. He just wanted to see Cas that instant, and he wanted Cas to tell him he was doing okay. Dean grabbed his phone and checked to see if Cas had sent him anything. He hadn’t, and the only notifications he had were from the news and a few Instagram DMs from nosy, annoying people that went to his school but had never met before. 

Once he finished the movie, he came to a decision: he was going to sneak out of the house and go to Cas’s. It wasn’t that far of a walk, but Dean didn’t know how he was going to get out of the house with his injuries. He couldn’t go down the stairs because it would alert his dad that he was leaving, so that was out. 

“Crap,” he mumbled as his gaze latched onto the tree right outside his window. He would have to climb down the tree and somehow bring his crutches with him. 

Dean grabbed his crutches from where they were leaning against the wall and walked over to his window. He glanced down at the ground below his window. It was probably solid because it was starting to get cold at night, so he would need something soft to cushion his landing if he fell. 

He grabbed his comforter from his bed and threw it out the window, watching as it fell right at the base of the tree. He tossed his crutches down after it, silently praying that they wouldn’t make a loud noise and alert his family or his neighbors. 

Finally, he tried to get into the tree. He tried a few different ways, but he eventually swung his legs over the window ledge and sat there. He sat as far out as he could without falling and reached for the tree. He grabbed onto the nearest branches and swung out so he could wrap his legs around the trunk. He began his descent, wincing from the pain in his knee with each inch he moved, but he eventually made it to the bottom, landing on the blanket he had thrown down earlier. Dean picked his crutches up and began to head in the direction of Cas’s house. He probably could have driven, but his car’s engine was so loud it would have alerted his dad.

Twenty minutes later, he arrived in front of Cas’s house. He stood there, contemplating what to do. He thought he should text Cas, but he probably wouldn’t look at his phone, judging by the number of unread text messages Dean had sent over the past week. He then thought about ringing the doorbell, but he figured Cas’s family wouldn’t be too happy about that. He eventually decided to throw a tiny rock at Cas’s bedroom window, hoping Cas would notice that Dean was out there.

After a few short moments, Cas’s confused face appeared in the window, barely able to be seen around the large tree that was growing in front of it. He stared down at Dean, and the expression on his face slowly morphed into that of surprise. Cas opened the window and stuck his head out.

“Dean,” he started, kind of quiet but loud enough for Dean to hear, “what are you doing here?” He looked relieved to see Dean, but Dean could tell that be was upset about something. 

“I wanted to see you and… talk to you,” Dean explained, trying not to sound awkward or clingy. “Can I come up?”

Cas nodded. “Yeah. Are you able to climb up the tree or should I open the front door for you?”

Dean thought for a second. “I’ll just climb up the tree. I climbed down my tree to get here, so what’s wrong with another?” He let out a small laugh and began to climb up the tree. It was a little different from his tree—and of course different because of his knee—but he made it work. Soon, he stuck his legs through the window and slid into Cas’s room. 

“Hello, Dean,” Cas said quietly, stepping aside to let Dean in his room. 

Dean reached out to grasp Cas’s arm. “Hi, Cas. Sorry, I left my crutches outside. I think I’ll need some help getting around this place.”

Cas nodded and led Dean over to his bed, sitting down and dragging Dean down next to him. He folded his legs and shifted so he was facing Dean. “You said you missed me?”

“Yeah,” Dean said, nodding at the same time. “I did miss you. I tried texting you and stuff, but you didn’t answer. And I didn’t get out of the hospital until earlier today. Technically, I shouldn’t even be out of the house. My dad grounded me once he found out that you and I were dating.” Dean frowned. “But I’ve been worried sick about you. Charlie said she came over and she told me that you weren’t doing okay. So… what’s been going on?” He quickly added, “You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to. I understand if you want to keep that private.”

Cas shook his head. “No, no, it’s fine. You should know because this whole situation involves you too.” He sighed. “I’m sorry I didn’t answer your messages. I’ve been ignoring my phone because I’ve been getting a lot of hate from people I barely know and who probably barely know me. It’s just…” He looked down at his hands and shrugged. “I don’t know. It’s been rough. I haven’t been to school and I’m afraid to go back. I know Charlie will have my back, but she’s not with me all the time so I don’t know what I would do when she’s not with me.” He paused and looked up at Dean. “I’m sorry. I’m rambling.”

“Nah, you’re fine,” Dean reassured. “I… I don’t know what to do. Could we talk to the principal or someone else? I don’t know what it would do, but it might help.”

Cas rubbed his hands over his eyes and fell back, landing against his pillow. He gestured for Dean to lay down next to him and, after a few adjustments, Dean’s head was next to Cas’s. “We could do that. I just… I just kind of want to handle this on my own, but at the same time I want to run and hide from this situation, from my entire life. Do you get that?”

Dean nodded. “Yeah. But I feel like we should ask for help. These idiots at school need to get their heads out of their asses and deal with shit. It’s not like we’re living in the 1900s or some bullshit. It’s 2019, and these people just need to get over themselves.”

“Yeah,” Cas said, but it was kind of quiet. “Can we talk about something else, at least for right now.”

“Of course,” Dean said. He flipped on his side and propped himself up on his elbow. “What did you want to discuss?”

Cas folded his hands over his stomach and stared at the ceiling. “I love you.”

Dean’s eyes widened. “What?” He reached out to grasp at Cas’s hand. “Do you really mean that, or are you just saying that to distract me?”

Cas turned his head so he was looking at Dean. His nose was almost touching Dean’s nose. “I mean it. I love you, Dean Winchester.”

Dean grinned. “I love you too, Cas. I love you so damn much.” He leaned forward and pressed his lips against Cas’s, gently at first. He slung his arms around Cas’s lower back and pressed him close just as Cas cupped Dean’s cheek in an attempt to deepen the kiss. They stayed like that for longer than both of them had anticipated, and they only broke apart when Dean needed to take a breath. “I feel like that was the most cliche thing I’ve ever done,” Dean said, unsure of what else to say. “Not that that’s a bad thing!”

Cas laughed, and Dean couldn’t be happier to see Cas happy—or at least better than he had been before. “You’re right, that was pretty cliche. But I wouldn’t trade that moment for anything else.” He leaned forward and pressed a quick peck to Dean’s cheek before sitting up and folding his hands in his lap. “Do you wanna get out of here? I need a change of scenery.”

Dean sat up. “Sure. Where to?”

Cas shrugged. “Uh, there’s a coffee shop kind of nearby that’s open 24/7. We could go there.”

“Sounds good,” Dean replied. “Are we gonna head out the window or should we go down the stairs?”

Cas thought for a moment. “Let’s just go down the stairs. I think it’ll be easier for both of us.”

“All right,” Dean said, “but you’re going to have to help me down the stairs. I might trip and fall and alert everyone that we’re leaving.”

Cas snorted. “Yeah, we don’t want that.” He swung his legs over the side of the bed and stood up. He grabbed Dean’s arms and hauled him to his feet, wrapping an arm around his waist so he could help him get around the house. Together, they left Cas’s room and went downstairs. Cas made sure he had his keys and wallet before exiting the house and helping Dean around the side of the house. 

“Thanks, Cas,” Dean said, balancing on one foot while Cas stooped down to grab Dean’s crutches from the base of the tree. He stuck the crutches under his arms and began to follow Cas as he made his way towards the coffee shop in question. A few minutes later, they walked through the front door, setting off the bell and letting the workers know they were there. 

“Hey, Castiel,” said one of the workers, a woman with blonde hair and a bright smile on her face. “What can I do for you today?”

“Hi, Ellen,” Cas said politely, walking up to the counter. “Uh, could I get some chamomile tea and a scone?” 

Ellen grabbed a scone from the case and placed it in a pastry bag. “Of course. Anything for your friend?” She gestured to Dean, still standing by the door.

Dean shook his head. “No. I didn’t bring any money with me.”

“I can pay for you,” Cas suggested.

“No, you shouldn’t have to,” Dean said. He looked down at the ground and fiddled with his crutches. 

“It’s fine,” Cas said. “I don’t mind. What do you want?”

Dean stood next to Cas and surveyed the menu and the glass case full of pastries. “I’ll have… a coffee and a croissant, please.”

“Of course,” Ellen said. She handed Cas the croissant, probably making the assumption that it would be difficult for Dean to carry. “You two can go have a seat somewhere and I’ll let you know when your drinks are ready.”

Dean headed over to a nearby table and sat down, setting his crutches against the wall. Cas slid into the chair across from him.

“So,” Cas started. “Do you like it here?”   


  
Dean looked around, taking in the minimalistic decorations and the large array of food and drinks they served. “Yeah, I do.” He gestured to the women making their drinks. “Do you come here often? You seem to know her pretty well.”

Cas shrugged. “Yeah, I guess I do come here pretty often. Ellen owns this place, and I’ve known her for most of my life. She’s basically another member of the family.”

“Cool,” Dean said. “I… I don’t really want to talk about any of the bullshit that’s been going on, at least for right now. But would it be possible for me to see what kinds of messages people have been sending you? It doesn’t have to be now, of course.”

“Yeah,” Cas said, nodding. “Not right now. I left my phone at home anyway. Didn’t really want to bring that thing with me, at least not right now.” He opened his pastry bag and took a bite of his scone.

Dean gestured to the scone. “Is that good?”

Cas nodded. “Yeah. You should try your croissant. I find them to be really good, but it might be a little dry now. That’s what we get for coming here late at night.”

Dean shook his head. “Well, I guess we’ll have to come here when the croissants are fresh.” He opened the bag anyway and took a huge bite of the croissant. He chewed on it for a moment, thinking. “It really isn’t bad. It’s one of the best croissants I’ve ever eaten. That being said, it should be  _ really _ good when I try them fresh.”

The two of them quieted down when Ellen came by their table and gave them their drinks. “You two enjoy these drinks, okay?” She patted Cas’s shoulder. “It’s good to see you here. I heard what happened and I was worried about you. I hope you’re doing better.”

Cas smiled up at Ellen. “Yeah, I think I am doing better now. Thank you for your concern. I appreciate it very much, and I’m sure Dean does as well.”

Dean nodded. “Yes, thank you.” He took a sip of his coffee. “And this is very good.”

Ellen waved him off. “Oh, I know. And it’s nice to finally meet you instead of just hearing about you.”

“Yeah, yeah, of course.”

Ellen clapped her hands together. “Well, I’ll let you two enjoy yourselves. Hopefully I’ll see you guys later?”

Cas lowered his cup of tea. “Yeah, Ellen. We’ll try to stop by at some point, probably once we’ve dealt with this whole mess.”

Ellen nodded, then turned and headed back behind the counter, probably about to clean up because not many customers came in overnight. Cas turned back to face Dean and Dean did the same, taking small sips of his coffee. They sat in comfortable silence for a while, just enjoying their pastries and drinks. 

Cas stood up with their empty bags and cups. “I’ll go throw these out and then we can head back to my house.” He headed over to the trash can as Dean grabbed his crutches and stood up.

“You can lead the way, Cas,” Dean said, inclining his head towards the door. “Thank you, Ellen,” he called as Cas opened the door for the both of them. They headed back to Cas’s house, pointing out the nice plants people had planted and trees that Cas used to climb when he was younger. They finally made it to the front door after a little while. Cas opened the door and helped Dean quietly get up the stairs in hopes that the two of them wouldn’t wake the entire house. 

“Do you wanna just sleep?” Cas asked once the two of them made it up to Cas’s room. “Or you could head home, if you wanted. You don’t have to stay.” He looked down at the ground and shuffled his feet. 

Dean smiled softly. “Nah, I’ll stay.” He placed his crutches against the wall and hopped over to Cas’s bed, sitting down with a loud plop. 

“You can sleep there,” Cas said. “I can sleep on the floor. Unless…”

“Unless you wanna share,” Dean finished for him. 

Cas’s face turned red. “Yeah,” he mumbled, trying to hide his face from Dean. He sat down on the bed next to Dean, pulling his knees up to his chest and burying his face in his hands.

Dean gently pulled Cas’s hands away from him face. “No need to be embarrassed. I was about to ask you the same thing.” He paused for a second, waiting until Cas seemed to have calmed down a bit. “And I’m okay with sharing the bed. Just as long as you are.”

Cas nodded. “Yeah, I’m okay with it.”

“Awesome!” Dean said. He stood up, motioning for Cas to do the same. He pulled back the covers and let Cas settle in first, moving over so Cas’s back was to the wall. Dean got in after him, first lying down on his back, hands folded over his stomach. He turned his head and looked at Cas. “Night, Cas.”

Cas ran a hand through Dean’s hair and gave a soft smile. “Good night, Dean.”

* * *

Dean woke up with a pair of arms around his waist and a head pressed against his back. He turned his head a bit and smiled once he saw Cas curling up behind him, holding Dean while he slept. 

“Hey, Cas,” Dean said softly.

Cas stirred a bit, slowly opening his eyes and blinking into the bright lights. “Good morning, Dean.” He yawned. “What time is it?”

Dean shrugged. “Let me check.” He reached his hand out and grabbed his phone from Cas’s nightstand. He turned it on, finding a whole bunch of unread text messages and missed calls. Most of them were from his dad, yelling at him for not being at home like he was supposed to. There were a few from Sam, just concerned about where he was and letting him know that their father was pissed. “Oh, shit!” Dean exclaimed, sitting up and accidentally knocking his shoulder against Cas’s cheek.

Cas sat up next to him. “What is it? What’s wrong?”

Dean sighed, dropping his phone on the bed. “My dad knows I snuck out, and he’s pissed. Sammy says he’s ready to kill or something like that.” He pulled his knees to his chest and ran his hands through his hair. “I should get home before he does something bad.” He swung his legs over the side of the bed and hopped over to the wall so he could grab his crutches. Quickly, he slipped on his shoes, glad that he also didn’t have to get dressed because he had slept in his clothes from the day before. 

“Wait!” Cas called, and Dean could hear him get out of bed as well. “I’ll come with you.”

Dean hesitated. “Uh… I don’t know. I don’t think you’ll want to be there. Or if you do, you won’t want to be associated with me after today.”

Cas shook his head and walked up to Dean, wrapping a hand around Dean’s wrist. “I don’t think so, Dean. I’m coming with you.”

Dean frowned at the thought, but he nodded anyway. “All right.” He leaned over and gave Cas a small peck on the lips. “Let’s go figure this bullshit out.”

* * *

A little while later, Cas and Dean arrived at Dean’s front door. They stood there, staring at the house, trying to figure out what they should do, if they should go in or if they should wait and see if Sam would let them know what was going on first. 

“Should we just go in?” Cas asked. 

“Uh, sure,” Dean said uncertainly. He pulled the key out of his pocket and unlocked the door, gently opening it, trying his best not to make too much noise. Inside, Sam was sitting on the couch, curled into the corner. It looked like he was trying to sleep, but Dean knew that he definitely wasn’t. When they knew that their father was angry, neither of them could sleep; they were too afraid to. 

“Dean!” Sam said, waving him over to the couch. He looked around Dean’s shoulder and his eyes became wide. “Cas, why are you here? You should definitely go home.”

Cas settled into the couch next to Sam. “I’m here to help the two of you.”

Sam frowned, but didn’t say anything. “Dean, you and Cas should leave. I can handle this.”

“No.” Dean shook his head. “No. It’s my job to take care of you, Sammy. I need to protect you from dad. He… I… Where is he right now?”

Sam sighed and shrunk into the couch. “Getting another drink. The kitchen smells terrible. It smells like someone accidentally spilled an entire liquor store’s worth of alcohol on the ground and then promptly threw up a bunch of it.”

Dean wrinkled his nose at that. “Vivid description. Thanks for that.”

Dean heard something fall in the kitchen, hitting the floor and shattering, spreading across the room. A groan followed that, as well as the sound of someone hitting the floor. 

“I’m assuming that was dad,” Dean said quietly.

Sam nodded. “Unless someone else snuck into the house when I wasn’t paying attention.”

Dean was about to say something in return, but John barreled into the room, carrying a bottle of whiskey that was slowly dripping onto the floor. He took a long swig from the bottle and stopped in front of Dean, a look of anger on his face. “Where the hell were you last night? I thought I said you weren’t supposed to leave the house.”

“I was—” Dean started to say, but John cut him off.

“Were you with this guy?” he shouted, gesturing at Cas with his bottle of whiskey. “Some guy you’re dating? You shouldn’t be doing that!”

Dean stopped paying attention to what his dad was saying. He was just trying to figure out ways for him, Sam, and Cas to escape and find somewhere else to go while his dad cooled off. He didn’t get to finish because soon his dad gripped the front of his shirt and dragged him up off of the couch. Dean struggled to stay balanced because of his injured leg, but his dad was holding him so tight and so close to his face that it would be difficult for Dean to fall. 

“Dad!” Sam yelled, springing up from the couch. “Put him down.”

“Sam,” Dean said over his shoulder, “you and Cas should leave. I’ll handle this.”

Dean heard footsteps retreating behind him, but he didn’t think that Sam and Cas had actually left the house. 

A fist came flying at Dean’s face, colliding with his cheek and causing blood to bubble up in his mouth. Dean spit it out, satisfied when most of it landed on the front of John’s shirt. A second punch came towards him, this time landing on his temple. A large burst of pain shot through his head, and Dean’s vision went blurry for a few seconds, but other than that he felt fine.

“Dad,” he said, more blood coming out of his mouth, “stop. Please.”

John didn’t say anything, just grabbed Dean’s arm, the same on with the sprained wrist, and twisted it around.

“Fuck!” Dean screamed. He fell to his knees and clutched at his arm. His wrist hurt even more than it had before, and Dean wouldn’t be surprised if his father had injured it more than it had been before. 

“Dean!” Cas called, rushing into the room. He pushed himself between Dean and John, trying to form a barrier.

“What are you gonna do?” John called, opening his whiskey and downing at least a quarter of it in one gulp. “Hit me? Punch me? Huh?” He moved closer and closer to Cas with each word, getting up in Cas’s face.

Dean could tell Cas was nervous about facing John. He tried to get up and help, but he felt a sharp pain in his knee. Instead of standing up, he was back on the ground, clutching at his knee and favoring his sprained wrist. 

“Get out of my way!” John yelled. He grabbed the side of Cas’s head and pushed him to the side. Cas landed next to the wall, his head crashing into the hardwood floor. He didn’t move, and Dean was afraid of what his father had done to Cas.

John started to advance on Dean, but he stopped once he heard police sirens outside the house, followed by an ambulance.

“What the hell is that?” John asked. He set his whiskey on the coffee table and started to head towards the window. He opened the curtain a bit and peeked out, probably trying to figure out what was going on outside.

“I called the cops,” Sam said, leaning against the wall and crossing his arms over his chest. 

John turned around so fast he almost knocked himself over. “You did what? Why the hell would you do that?”

Sam shrugged just as the police came to the door, letting themselves in. They grabbed John and handcuffed him, then took him outside. Dean didn’t bother getting up to see them take John to the police car and drive him off to the station. 

“Is anyone hurt?” another officer asked. 

Dean crawled over to Cas. He pressed his fingers against Cas’s wrist, feeling for a pulse. He felt one, but he could tell that Cas was knocked unconscious. “Over here,” Dean called. “He’s unconscious.”

“Are you all right, son?” the officer asked as some nurses put Cas on a stretcher and took him out to the ambulance. 

Dean shrugged as he struggled to sit up. “I think I’m fine.”

“Dean,” Sam said firmly. “You should get checked out as well. Your injuries from before might be worse now. Here, let me help you up.” He hooked his arms under Dean’s and dragged him up, bringing him over to the wall so he could balance for a second while Sam grabbed his crutches. “Go out to the ambulance.”

Dean sighed. “Okay. All right.” He followed the police officer out to the ambulance and got in, sitting down on the bed next to Cas’s. “Can my brother come in here?”

One of the nurses shook his head. “I’m sorry, but there’s barely any room in here for those who are already here.”

Dean nodded. “Uh, fine.” He turned to Sam. “Call Bobby and tell him what happened. Ask him if he can drive you to the hospital, okay?”

“Yeah, of course, Dean,” Sam said. “I’ll see you later.”

The doors on the ambulance shut and they started driving away. Dean looked over at Cas, watching as the nurses started to treat him and help him out.

“Can you lay down?” one of the nurses asked Dean. “We just want to check you out really quickly.”

Dean nodded, dropping his crutches and lying down on the bed. He let the nurses take care of him until they made it to the hospital and into the care of the staff there.


	6. Chapter 6

Cas woke up slowly, blinking into the bright lights above his bed. His head hurt a lot, and he winced as pain shot through his head like an arrow. 

“Hey, sunshine,” a comforting, familiar voice said. “How are you doing?”

Cas turned his head and saw Dean sitting in the chair next to his bed, a bright grin on his freckle-covered face. “I’m fine, I guess,” Cas said. “I… what happened. After I passed out. I’m assuming I passed out.”

Dean nodded. “Uh, yeah. You did. Sammy called the police and they came and got my dad. An ambulance took you and I to the hospital.”

Cas looked around, finally taking in his surroundings. He hadn’t realized where he was earlier, but now he was definitely aware that he was at a hospital. “Are you hurt, Dean?”

Dean shrugged. “Not really. I mainly just have some minor bruises and shit. My wrist and knee are worse than they were before. Something my dad did must have done that.”

Cas leaned his head back on his pillow. “I’m sorry, Dean. We… I don’t know. I don’t know if there was anything we could have done differently.”

Dean got up from the chair and motioned for Cas to move over. He did, and Dean climbed into the bed next to Cas, wrapping an arm around Cas’s waist. Cas dropped his head onto Dean’s shoulder and brought his hand around to hold the one Dean didn’t have wrapped around his waist. 

“Where’s Sam?” Cas asked. “Did he come, or did he stay at home?”

“I think he’s downstairs getting something to eat,” Dean explained. “He couldn’t come with us in the ambulance so I told him to call our Uncle Bobby and ask if he could drive Sam here. They got here a couple hours after we did.”

“When did we arrive?”

Dean paused for a second, probably thinking. “Uh, I don’t know. Probably nine in the morning yesterday? So almost twenty four hours ago.”

Cas frowned. “Oh. One last question. Uh, why am I here? Did I get hurt?”

Dean fiddled with his hands. “Yeah,” he said quietly, almost regretful. “You may or may not remember this, but you were trying to get my dad to stop hitting me. He knocked you over and you hit your head pretty hard on the ground. The doctor said you have a concussion.”

Cas nodded. “That would explain why my head hurts so much.” He gave a small smile. “I kinda want to sleep now. Sorry if you wanted to talk to me some more.”

“Nah,” Dean said. “I didn’t sleep much overnight, so I wouldn’t mind a little nap.”

“Perfect,” Cas said. He settled into the blankets, giving Dean some more room so he could lie down as well. There wasn’t much room on the bed, but both of them somehow made it work. They fell fast asleep within minutes.

* * *

The two of them woke up later to find that Sam, Charlie, and Bobby had infiltrated their room while they were sleeping. They were standing against the far wall, talking in hushed voices so as not to wake Dean and Cas.

“What are you guys doing here?” Dean asked, stretching his back out the best he could and yawning.

“Visiting you and Cas,” Charlie said matter-of-factly, arms folded over her chest. “Duh.”

Dean shook his head, chuckling a bit. “Of course. What else would I expect.”

Bobby walked over to the chair next to the bed and sat down. “Sam, come over here,” he said. “We need to talk about where you and Sam are going to live now. Your dad’s in jail now, and he probably will be for a while. I still need to talk about things with a lawyer, but I will try to ask that you two live with me until you graduate from high school or college or whatever.”

“Uh…” Dean started. “That sounds fine. We can just… I don’t know. We can discuss that more later, I guess. Right, Sammy?”

Sam nodded. “Yeah, sure.”

Bobby leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms over his chest. “All right, boys. I get it. Now’s not the right moment.”

Dean settled back into the bed, resting his head on Cas’s shoulder. “I just wanna go back to sleep for now.”

“We’ll leave you two be, then,” Sam said. He started heading toward the door, motioning for Charlie and Bobby to follow him.

“Are they gone?” Cas mumbled, turning his head to face Dean’s.

Dean nodded. “Yeah.”

“Good,” Cas said quietly, shifting onto his side so he could face Dean easily. “I like talking to them, but I really just want to talk to you right now.”

Dean smiled softly. “I wanna talk to you, too.”

Cas pushed himself into a seated position, beckening for Dean to do the same. He sighed, letting his shoulders fall. “When do you think we can get out of here?”

Dean shrugged. “Not sure. I’m cleared, so I can leave, but I don’t know if you are yet.”

Cas groaned and let his head fall into his hands. “I just wanna get out of here and do something. It’s too… bright in here. It kind of hurts my eyes.”

“Well,” Dean started, “I hate to be negative, but you probably won’t be able to do much once you get out of here anyway. You have a concussion.”

“A minor one!”

Dean rolled his eyes. “Just come here.” He opened his arms, letting Cas lean over and settle in against Dean’s chest. 

The door opened, and one of the nurses Dean had seen around came in. “Oh!” she said. “I didn’t realize both of you were in here. I was just coming to let Mr. Novak know that he’s been cleared. The doctor will be in later to discuss everything to do with that. You know, what treatment to use at home. You’re pretty lucky, though. The concussion is a minor one, so it won’t take too long for it to heal.”

“Thank you,” Cas said. “I look forward to leaving.”

The nurse chuckled. “I’m sure you do.” She turned around and exited, leaving Dean and Cas alone once again. 

“I kinda want to sleep,” Cas said out of the blue, about ten minutes after the nurse had left. The two of them had sat in comfortable silence for a while, just enjoying each other’s company. 

“You read my mind, angel,” Dean said, lying back on the bed. He tugged Cas down next to him. “Can I have a kiss before I fall asleep?”

Cas gave him a small smile. “Sure.” He leaned towards Dean and gave him a small peck on the lips. “Have a nice nap, Dean.”

“You too, Cas,” Dean said.

* * *

“Cas, you look like you’re going to shit yourself in like two seconds,” Dean said, sitting on Cas’s bed with his back against the wall. It had been a couple weeks since the incident with John, and it was the first time they were both going back to school since even before that.

Cas turned around quickly and glared. “I’m just nervous, okay? I haven’t been to school in… I don’t know, a month? It’s just nerve wracking.” He grabbed a sweatshirt from the back of his desk chair and pulled it over his head. 

Dean got up and stood next to Cas, wrapping his arms around Cas’s waist and resting his head on his shoulder. “It’ll be fine, I promise. If not, I’ll be there to kick anyone’s ass.”

Cas shifted in Dean’s grasp so he was facing his boyfriend. “You may have gotten rid of the crutches, Dean,” he started, “but you should still be careful. You’re still wearing a knee brace and both your knee and wrist are still injured.”

Dean frowned. “You’re no fun.” He broke away from the embrace and grabbed his backpack. “Come on. Bobby’s waiting outside. He’s going to drop us off before heading to work.”

Cas stooped down to grab his own backpack. “Lead the way.”

They headed outside and piled into the backseat of Bobby’s car. Sam was in the passenger seat with a pair of earbuds in. They sat in comfortable silence for the entire ride. Dean could tell that Bobby knew the two of them were nervous about going back to school, so he didn’t say anything to make their anxiety worse. 

“Have a good day, boys,” Bobby said once they got to the high school. “I’m gonna go drop Sam off.”

Dean grabbed his bag from the floor. “Thanks, Bobby,” he said. “I’ll see you later.”

Dean walked around the side of the car to meet Cas. “You ready to do this Cas?” he asked, holding out a hand. Cas took Dean’s hand in his own. 

“How about a kiss for good luck?” Cas asked, leaning in towards Dean a bit. 

“Of course,” Dean said. He closed the gap between the two of them and pressed a kiss against Cas’s lips. He pulled away after a few short moments. “You ready to head in?”

Cas took a deep breath and faced the front of the school. “I think I am. Let’s go.”

Dean gripped Cas’s hand tighter as they started to walk towards the school. Charlie found them along the way. The three of them walked into the school together, heads held high, ready to face whatever their fellow classmates had in store.


End file.
